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House Transition

From Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia

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Revision as of 10:13, 14 November 2007

Jefferson's years in France (1784-1789) marked a radical turning point in the design of Monticello. Before then, Jefferson's architectural education had been largely through books, including the Four Books of Architecture by sixteenth-century architect Andrea Palladio. In Paris, where Jefferson saw a new style of domestic architecture that was elegant and less academic in its classical form, he began to think about remodeling and enlarging his house from eight to twenty-one rooms. Demolition of the first Monticello, which began in 1796, was limited to its upper floors and northeast front. Much of the original brickwork of the first floor was incorporated in the new house on the southwest side. This shape represents the area that was added to the house as part of the remodeling and enlargement.